# Are \[question about terrorists\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166 "2013-08-13T23:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/21 "2013-08-14T14:41:59Z")
I agree - those statements might as well have said “Terrorism is _what the other side does_”. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/22 "2013-08-14T14:45:30Z")
Which is also why harmelss militias composed of old men wanting to play GI Joe can be considered ‘terrorists’, if their website questions the government’s authority. Of course, it’s these militias who give “Terrorist Fusion Centers” much of their _raison d’etre_. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/23 "2013-08-14T18:21:41Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > The firestorms of WWII were terrible, but were in fact intended to cripple industry and not to induce terror in the population. > The horror of those bombings led the US to develop more accurate bombing techniques (among other reasons), to the point that today we can put a bomb through a window on the other side of the world. > > Terrorism is violence that is intended to induce later fear. Anybody getting on a plane today spends hours thinking about 9/11. > That’s terrorism. Citizens were unfortunately targeted. As I noted, the Allies intentionally used certain bombs in certain ways to maximize destruction of cities…and to bring civilian populations to their knees. Our victory led to an amnesia about these actions and thus we havent had to consider their moral and ethical implications. Read the book. Its a rough read but very well researched. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/24 "2013-08-14T18:29:12Z")
When soldiers miss their targets, innocent people die. When terrorists miss their targets, innocent people live. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/25 "2013-08-14T20:04:08Z")
> [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](#): > > Interesting, in that both definitions pretty much right away classify all revolutionary activity as terrorism and illegitimate. Why not just classify terrorism tactically, as the deliberate targeting of civilians? It is the most plausible way of thinking about terrorism, allows for revolutionaries to pursue legitimate warfare, and also allows (sensibly) for us to talk about state-sponsored (or practiced) terrorism. I think the reason that the definition doesn’t restrict itself to civilians is to include some incidents on military targets, such as the bombings of the USS Cole and the Beirut marine barracks. But I agree with you. I’d rather reclassify the Cole and Beirut barracks as non-terrorist attacks in order to have a definition of terrorism that didn’t include virtually every act of warfare by every country on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/26 "2013-08-14T20:34:57Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Ordinary people who have no specific miltary role…hmmm. > > Man, that rings a bell. OH yeah! It sounds like drone strikes. We don’t use drone strikes against ordinary people who have no specific military role. So it sounds nothing like drone strikes at all. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/27 "2013-08-14T20:45:30Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Ordinary people who have no specific miltary role…hmmm. > > Man, that rings a bell. OH yeah! It sounds like drone strikes. No, because drone strikes are targeted at the leadership of organizations said to be “at war” with us. They don’t aim at schools, housing developments, businesses, buses, etc. There is lots and lots of room to argue with the “at war” idea. I have never accepted the idea that the struggle to defeat terrorism is a “war.” I favor using police powers and law enforcement techniques over weapons of war. We aren’t as far apart as you might think. I just don’t agree with you that drone strikes are, themselves, terrorist techniques. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/28 "2013-08-14T20:48:28Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > When soldiers miss their targets, innocent people die. > > When terrorists miss their targets, innocent people live. Tricky. When terrorists miss their targets, they usually hit another innocent target nearby. It’s hard to set off a car bomb in a crowded marketplace and “miss.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/29 "2013-08-14T21:18:35Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > **Der Trihs** : much depends on whom Al Qaeda would use their drones against. > > Against military bases, military officers, even the military supply chain – truck drivers, helicopter repair personnel, etc. – that would be one thing. > > Against schools, cafes, synagogues, athletes, office buildings, and commuter buses – their usual list of targets – that would be different. And the latter is what we are known for. We tend to blow up people like medical personnel who are trying to help someone and relatives at funerals and pretty much any gathering of two or more people. > [@aNewLeaf](#): > > The firestorms of WWII were terrible, but were in fact intended to cripple industry and not to induce terror in the population. No, they were meant to induce terror, to “break the will” of the opposition. It didn’t work for either side, but that _was_ much of the point. > [@Trinopus](#): > > No, because drone strikes are targeted at the leadership of organizations said to be “at war” with us. They don’t aim at schools, housing developments, businesses, buses, etc. Yes, they are. Nor are they particularly aimed at terrorists. They are terror weapons, and are being used as terror weapons. They create an atmosphere where people don’t send their children to school because we might blow up the bus, where they can’t sleep because they hear the drones all night, where accident victims go unaided because we’ll kill you for trying to help, where people fear to marry or hold funerals because we like bombing those. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/30 "2013-08-15T01:52:27Z")
Cite of a U.S. drone strike targeting a school or school bus? I don’t even know of a case where such a strike missed its actual target and hit a school or a school bus, but, for what you said to be true, you’d have to demonstrate that this was the actual intended target. I don’t think you can do that. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/31 "2013-08-15T19:19:33Z")
> [@slm2955](#): > > Are “terrorists” really “terrorists” or is that just a name given because their views aren’t on par with ours? Specifically targeting civilians for the purpose of causing “terror” is a pretty significant difference in views. If you don’t get that I would need a pit thread to properly respond to you. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166/32 "2013-08-15T19:24:44Z")
If you have a long beard and live in the desert…and you’re not a member of ZZ Top…you just might be a terrorist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-question-about-terrorists/666166.md?page=1)